Isaiah Jones left concerned at Luton Town issue he saw v Cardiff City - Jack Wilshere must fix it | OneFootball

Luton Town wide-man Isaiah Jones was left concerned by the manner of his side's 3-1 defeat at league leaders Cardiff City on Saturday afternoon

Luton Town's woes on the road continued over the weekend, with Saturday afternoon's 3-1 defeat at league leaders Cardiff City stretching the Hatters' winless away run to seven matches.

It was yet another frustrating afternoon away from home for Jack Wilshere's side, who had lost out in each of their last three trips ahead of travelling to the Welsh capital.

They had, however, claimed successive home victories over Blackpool and fifth-placed Bradford City to reignite hopes of a late play-off push heading into the final stages of the season, with Wilshere himself even claiming that Cardiff - who are now ten points clear of Bolton Wanderers in third place with a game in hand - were simply "more consistent" than his Town side, as opposed to being a better outfit.

Ultimately, the reasons why Cardiff are beginning to cruise at the summit of the League One table, while Luton's top-six credentials hang in the balance despite the two sides heading down from the Championship together at the end of last season, were exposed in a chastening first-half collapse for the visitors.

Cardiff took the lead after just 11 minutes through David Turnbull, and though Jordan Clark swiftly restored parity with a penalty nine minutes later, strikes from Joel Colwill and Perry Ng before the break handed the Bluebirds a two-goal cushion that they never looked like surrendering, keeping the Hatters firmly at bay in a comparatively-actionless second-half in South Wales.

Luton seldom threatened to get back into the game, failing to register a single effort on goal after the interval despite a flurry of attacking changes from Wilshere.

Indeed, such events were at the frustration of Luton winger Isaiah Jones, who actually won the penalty converted by Clarke in a sharp individual display but slammed his own teammates for showing Cardiff "too much respect" and giving up as the goals flew in.

What Isaiah Jones has said about Luton Town's collapse at Cardiff City

Jones was left frustrated with his side's performance at Cardiff, and pointed out the failure to win individual battles towards the end of the opening half as the Bluebirds raced into a two-goal lead through Colwill and Ng.

It was at that stage where the 26-year-old, who has made just seven league appearances this term owing to a series of injury setbacks, believes the Hatters "gave up at times", citing poor body language from his teammates.

And that's a sentiment which many Luton fans may struggle to find much opposition to, having often criticised the mentality and bouncebackability of the Town squad this term - under both Wilshere and ex-boss Matt Bloomfield.

As quoted by Luton Today, Jones explained: "I want to say congratulations to Cardiff, the better team on the day. We got back into the game after being under the cosh a bit, got the penalty, scored it and I felt like we were okay at times, but then the last 10 minutes of the first half, we didn't win our individual battles.

"We gifted them a goal and from there, not panic stations, but we lost control, lost momentum and then he (Ng) scored a worldie.

"I just felt our body language, we gave up at times.

"Second half was better, it was like cat and mouse, we gave a better account of ourselves, never gave up, but at this level if you don’t win your one v one battles, your duels, you’re never going to come our on top and that’s what happened.

"They’re a good team, I wouldn’t say the best we’ve played, but they’re a good team. I just felt at times we gave them too much respect, but it is what it is, we just move on from this result and we’ve got to move forward now as we’ve got another big game on Wednesday (against Wigan Athletic)."

When quizzed on how players can avoid throwing the towel in during tough away fixtures, Jones added with no shortage of frustration: "It’s stuff that we’ve just got to talk about. We’ve had many honest conversations this season, even when I was injured we had many under Bloomfield at the time, and I just feel like it’s only us that can deal with that and sort it out.

"The gaffer can gives us the tactics, but it’s us on the pitch that has to take responsibility and this season we haven’t taken a lot of responsibility, hence why where we are where we are right now.

"I think we’ve got the quality and the players in the changing room to change it. We’ve got the last 15 games of the season, and we need to change it to get into the play-off positions."

Luton Town must fix key issue if Jack Wilshere is to reach top-six

The current campaign has been marred by disappointment and frustration for Luton, who headed into it as the title favourites and found themselves in comfortably the best health of the three relegated sides, having been a Premier League team just two years ago before coming much closer to survival than either Cardiff or Plymouth Argyle.

Plymouth have struggled too, though the strength of Luton's squad on paper shows just how drastically they have underperformed under more than one manager this term.

`There is, of course, no shortage of ability and pedigree at Kenilworth Road, but Luton's inconsistency, lack of bouncebackability and notable shortcomings on the road have prevented Wilshere from turning his side into strong promotion contenders.

It's rather telling that Luton rank 14th in League One's away table, having collected just two more points on their travels than Port Vale - who are destined for relegation to League Two and find themselves 11 points shy of safety.

That lays bare the extent of the issue at hand, which Wilshere must now strive to resolve heading into the twilight of the campaign, where a host of crunch affairs await to determine Luton's fate in their ongoing bid to salvage a top-six spot come May.